At Commentary, I have a new piece on the common argument that Israel must make a deal with the Palestinians to save itself as a democracy. Here is an excerpt: The “democracy” argument has become the central justification of the diplomatic process, incessantly invoked by Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli peace envoy Tzipi […]
Archive | International Law
How Broader Acceptance of Universal Jurisdiction Makes it Look Worse
By Eugene Kontorovich on December 15, 2013 9:03 am in Alien Tort Statute, Federal Jurisdiction, International Law
At JustSecurity, Ryan Goodman challenges the methodology of Amnesty International’s updated report of universal jurisdiction, which finds the vast majority of nations implement UJ in their legislation. Prof. Goodman argues Amnesty over-counts (see Kevin Jon Heller’s dissent). Yet even if Amnesty’s numbers are accurate, they may actually paint a dismal picture of UJ. The broader […]
New Paper on International Criminal Court’s Jurisdiction over Israeli Settlements
By Eugene Kontorovich on December 1, 2013 3:00 pm in Global Governance/World Government, International Law, Israel, National Security, War and Armed Conflict
My paper, Israel/Palestine — The ICC’s Uncharted Territory, has just been published in the Journal of International Criminal Justice. It explains that the International Criminal Court does not have jurisdiction over the oft-threatened and much-discussed Palestinian referral of Israeli settlements, despite the General Assembly’s recognition of Palestine as a non-member state. In brief, the relevant […]
Thanksgiving for Purported Pirates in Russia and the U.S.
By Eugene Kontorovich on November 28, 2013 8:00 am in Criminal Law, Federal Jurisdiction, International Law, National Security, Russia
It is a happy Thanksgiving for defendants in two very different piracy cases – the trial of Ali, a Somali education official arrested while attending an education conference in the U.S., and the crew of Greenpeace’s ship Arctic Sunrise, arrested by Russia last month while minding Russia’s business on an oil rig. I’ve written about […]
China Asserts Air Defense Identification Zone Around Disputed Pacific Islands
By Kenneth Anderson on November 27, 2013 7:33 pm in International Law, Uncategorized, War and Armed Conflict
Julian Ku at Opinio Juris notes that while much of the foreign policy community is focused on the Iran deal, China has undertaken a significant political escalation of its dispute with Japan over the Senkaku (or Daioyu) Islands, by invoking a so-called Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) around the disputed islands. The Wall Street Journal […]
The EU Supports Exploitation of Resources in the Occupied Territories
The Occupied Sawahari Territories that is (aka Western Sahara). Global Post runs my commentary today on the European Union’s new treaty with Morocco, which does everything the EU has been claiming in its increasingly hostile recent dealings with Israel that international law forbids. The EU’s position regarding Western Sahara is consistent with its practice in […]
New Paper: “Kiobel Surprise: Unexpected by Scholars But Consistent with International Trends”
By Eugene Kontorovich on November 12, 2013 2:54 pm in Alien Tort Statute, Federal Jurisdiction, International Law, Law Reviews, Legal Scholarship, Supreme Court
My article on Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum is up on SSRN. It is forthcoming in the Notre Dame Law Review‘s Federal Courts Issue. Here is the abstract; comments on the article are welcome: The unanimous ruling in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum blind-sided the legal academy. The case involved one of the most contentious […]
International Law Imperialism vs. Proceduralism
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 29, 2013 4:46 pm in Global Governance/World Government, International Law
My op-ed on the African Union and the International Criminal Court at the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (also a good takes at EJIL:Talk and Dov Jacobs): Let us distinguish between the broad currents in international legal thought – what I would call international law “proceduralists” versus “imperialists.” International law has traditionally been procedural–what counts […]
Does Nigeria Share Responsibility for Pirate Attack on US Sailors?
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 24, 2013 10:24 am in International Law, National Security, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Two Americans have been kidnapped off an oil supply vessel off of Nigeria by local pirates, according to breaking new accounts. Nigeria, like many nations, has been making it difficult for private security contractors to work off its shores. For example, it has recently arrested 15 Russian sailors from a ship operated by a security […]
African States Not Quitting ICC, Just Undermining From Within
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 22, 2013 11:50 am in Global Governance/World Government, International Human Rights Law, International Law
[This is en excerpt from an op-ed/short essay I’ve written on the AU action, which is available for publication…] African Union leaders met in an extraordinary summit in Adas Ababa last week to discuss their strained relations with the International Criminal Court (ICC), as it begins trying its first sitting head of state, President Uhuru […]
New Report on EU’s “Settlement Guidelines” for Israel
The Kohelet Policy Forum, a Jerusalem think tank, has released a legal and policy analysis, by Prof. Avi Bell and myself, of the European Commission’s recent “settlement guidelines” – a ban on funding Israeli entities located across, or, more importantly, conducting any “activities” in the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and Gaza. I’ve […]
Belgium’s Remarkable Capture of Pirate Ringleader
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 16, 2013 6:48 am in International Law, National Security, Uncategorized
Belgium has captured a senior Somali pirate kingpin in a remarkable operation. The leader of a pirate group, he had long been sought for hijacking a Belgian vessel in 2009. Now, undercover agents lured him and an associate to the Low Countries by pretending to be documentary film makers interested in making a movie about […]
The ICC Rules Libyan Case Inadmissible
The International Criminal Court today for the first time ruled a case inadmissible, and left the matter to domestic justice. Doubtless the anti-activist ruling has nothing to do with the confab of African countries today, called together by Kenya to discuss quitting the Court’s jurisdiction en masse in protest of the Court doing its job […]
What Russia’s Piracy Charges Against Greenpeace Mean for International Law
Amazingly, Russia has brought criminal piracy charges against the crew of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, which it had arrested on the high seas. The piracy charges make a mockery of international law, for reasons I’ve discussed. Moreover, such clearly abusive and politicized piracy charges are quite unprecedented in modern history, as far as I […]
How the EU Continues to Fund Settlements in Occupied Territory
The EU recently issued guidelines blocking research and other grants to Israeli institutions with activities (archeological digs, etc.) across the Green Line. In the yesterday’s Jerusalem Post I reveal that the EU continues to actively fund settlements in occupied territory, against their own understanding of international law: Under guidelines prepared earlier this summer, euros would […]